Century Radio

Century Radio, also marketed as Century 100 and later Century FM, was an early short-lived national commercial radio station in Ireland (the first was Atlantic 252).

Initially its highest frequency transmitter was at 100.3 MHz, with all others sitting in the 98 MHz band. E.g. Limerick was 98.4 MHz at 50 watts and Cork 98.8 MHz at 500 watts (effective radiated power). Within the first year the frequencies were eventually changed, ranging from 100.0 to 101.8 MHz, matching what Today FM is now broadcasting on. Century also broadcast on 1143 kHz AM in Dublin and Cork. These two AM transmitters were introduced some weeks after the station launched.

Founded on 4 September 1989, Century were intended to be the first licensed alternative to RTÉ Radio 1. The licence was issued in an attempt to kill the pirate radio tradition in Ireland. Full coverage of Ireland was achieved in early 1990. The station closed in November 1991, having lost £7 million (Punt), a huge amount for an Irish business at the time.

Dogged by problems from the start, it has recently been revealed that Century's licence was issued illegally, as the then Minister for Communications, Ray Burke received a bribe in the region of IR£100,000 to issue the licence. Its investors, who included Terry Wogan and Chris de Burgh were anxious to secure a quick return on their money, and were unwilling to wait to see would the station's fortunes turn around. Oddly, its major competitor, RTÉ broadcast Century over their transmitter masts without claiming their fee, which they repeatedly reduced in the hope of actually receiving the cash.

A £400,000 advertising campaign for the station was doomed to failure, due to the confusion over its frequencies – those living outside of Dublin would not find the station even close to 100–102, if they could even find it at all, thanks to the poor coverage.

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